By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Bengals-Ravens game today, though it won't approach a sellout, will have historical significance.

For the first time in 24 years, the running backs with the top two single-game rushing totals in NFL history will square off.

And the winner of the individual matchup between the Bengals' Corey Dillon and Baltimore's Jamal Lewis is likely to determine which team comes out with the victory.

The 3-2 Ravens will try to extend their AFC North division lead, and the Bengals, at 1-4, will try to avoid falling from contention.

Lewis, who leads the NFL in rushing with 742 yards in five games, broke Dillon's single-game mark Sept. 14 with a 295-yard effort against Cleveland.

Dillon's 278-yard record had stood since Oct. 22, 2000.

Dillon eclipsed the previous high of 275 yards set by Chicago's Walter Payton in 1977. Payton had broken the record of 273 yards set by Buffalo's O.J. Simpson in 1976.

Simpson had gone home to the Bay Area to play his final season, 1979, with San Francisco. The 49ers played host to Payton and the Bears on Oct. 28 that year.

Those four individual rushing games stand as the most prolific in NFL history.

Chicago won that game 28-27. Payton, in his fifth season, rushed for 162 yards. Simpson, in the finale of his 11-year career, was held to 29 yards.

Payton died of liver disease in 1999. Former teammate Gary Fencik said he remembers the Payton-Simpson matchup and appreciates what Dillon and Lewis have accomplished.

"Everybody on our team wanted to meet O.J.," Fencik, a former Bears safety, said from his Chicago office. "But O.J. was on his last legs. Walter was in his prime."

The historic Dillon-Lewis game occurs when both are in their prime.

Fencik, who joined the Bears in 1976, has two former teammates involved in today's games as defensive coaches, one on each team.

Bengals defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier and Ravens linebackers coach Mike Singletary both signed with the Bears as rookies in 1981.

Dillon has a keen sense of NFL history and studies the great running backs of the past, but he declined to talk to the media this week. Upgraded to probable Friday, Dillon had a 52-game consecutive start streak snapped Oct. 5 because of a groin strain.

He had been unable to finish the previous three games because of that injury and a hyper-extended knee suffered at Oakland on Sept. 14 - the same day Lewis broke his single-game rushing record.

Dillon, in his seventh season, earlier termed the injuries as "flukes." He spent the three-day bye weekend working out at Paul Brown Stadium instead of leaving town like many of his teammates. Teammates and coach Marvin Lewis said Dillon is determined to have a good game today and finish the season strong.

Dillon moved better in practice Thursday than he had Wednesday.

"He's his old ornery self, pleasant guy to be around," Lewis said. "He's excited to play, a prideful guy who wants to play. And he's worked hard to get back to be able to play."

Still, Lewis said, he will decide Dillon's game status this morning.

Dillon needs to average 76 yards rushing a game to finish with 1,000 yards for the seventh consecutive season. Only three other backs - Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders and Curtis Martin - have such streaks.

"To me, Corey Dillon is probably one of the top three or four great running backs in this league now," Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said.

Jamal Lewis has suffered a serious injury. A knee injury in the first week of training camp in 2001 forced Lewis to have surgery and miss the entire season on the injured reserve list.

But he followed a 1,300-yard rookie year with another 1,300-yard performance in 2002 and is on pace to set an NFL single-season rushing record of 2,374 yards. Dickerson holds the mark with 2,105 yards, set in 1984 with the Los Angeles Rams.

Lewis said he admires Dillon: "He is patient getting to the holes and getting his reads. That's what makes him so instinctive. A lot of (defenders) can over-run the play. I think that's what allows big runs."

Lewis doesn't see many similarities, though.

"I think I'm a bigger back and have much more speed than he does," he said. "But patience, that's what I'm trying to develop."

E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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